Process and apparatus for making design roofing



Oct. 6, 1936. R. A. HoLDswoRTH 2,056,274

PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING DESIGN ROOFING Filed 0G13. 18, 1935 E15/f5- ifig-l ATTORNEY Patented Oct', 6, 1936 AND APPARATUS FOR, MAKING DESIGN ROOFING PRocEss PATENT OFFICE Richard A. Holdsworth, New York, N. Y., assigner to The Barrett Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New Jersey Application., october 1s, 1933, serial No. 694,126

10 Claims.

This invention relates to roofing and more particularly` to the production of roong or siding having the exposed face formed with a desired pattern or design.

One of the objects of this invention is to pro-1 vide a novel Vmethod and Yapparatus for applying viscous' bituminous coating material to either plain saturated felt or mineral-surfaced sheet roofing in the form of a pattern or design.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved apparatus and process vfor applying a design or pattern of coating material having high viscosity or plasticity, such as heavy asphalts, mastics, and filled asphalt coatings, lto

grit surfaced roll roofing and shingles and therel after surfacing the viscous or plastic coating material with comminuted material contrasting in color with the grit of the rst surfacing.

Another object of the invention istoy` provide a method and apparatus for applying a design to a sheet of roofing material by positively feeding e a relatively thick layer of viscous or plastic bitujminous composition through a stencil onto the sheet of roofing.

' Prior to this invention it was common practice in the roofing industry to apply ornamental designs or patterns to saturated rooiing felt or mineral-surfaced roll roofing by contacting the roofing base with a suitableprinting roll rotating in a bathof coating material. Such method was particularly adapted for 'use with materials such as paints and iluid bituminous compositions. Viscous coating materials could not be applied in this manner unless first heated to a high temperature in order to render them iiuid. Since a.

considerable interval was required to cool such material to the setting point, such viscous materials applied at a high temperature usually ran and spread over adjacent uncoated areas of the roofing with the consequent formation of poor vdesigns and defective material.

lin the process ofthe present invention viscous coating material is positively fed through a per- 1 forated belt or stencil onto' the sheet of roofing.

My invention permits the use of relatively viscous materials, such as heavy viscous bitumens, bitu-` minous mastics, and filled asphalt coatings, so

reference should be made to the accompanying drawing wherein is'shown by Way of illustration a preferred method of carrying out the invention and in which:

Fig. l is a side elevation, somewhat diagrammatic in character, showing a preferred arrangement of the apparatus;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary plan view of the finished I sheet showing one type of design roofing which may be produced by this invention;

Fig. 3 shows the type of perforated endless belt used in producing the roofing of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary enlarged vertical section taken along the line 4--4 of Fig. 2 showing the design applied to a grit-surfaced base; and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary enlarged vertical section of a finished sheet showing the design ap- -plied to a plain saturated felt base.

Referring to the drawing, with particular reference to Fig. l, numeral i denotes al sheet of. gritfsurfaced roofing, .as for example, felt saturated with asphalt, coated on both sideswith asphalt, surfaced on the top side with grit, and

vhaving mica applied to the seal-back coating on the under side. surfaced sheet i is fed from a suitable source of supply over guide rolls 2 and 3 and contacts with an endless perforated belt 5, which may be of steel or other exlble durable material. The belt passes around spaced rollers l and t driven at any desirable speed through a suitable drive (not shown). As shown in Fig. 1, the spaced rollers and endless belt are adapted to move in a counter-clockwise direction. Between the spaced rollers is a rotating coating roll it which 4abuts tangentially against the inner face of the endless belt passing thereover.

Coating roll lil is rotatably mounted in tank or coating pan i2 which may contain heavy viscous coating material, such as heavy bituminous compositions or bituminous mastics. The roll preferably moves in a direction opposite to the movement of the endless belt and spaced rollers, i. e., it rotates in a clockwise direction. Positioned above thev coating pan is a scraping device It which contacts with the inner surface of the stencil after it passes over the coating roll and returns excess coating material from the stencil to the pan.

Before being brought into contact with the sheet of roong i, the perforated belt is nrst given an application of anti-stick solution, such as a solution of soap and water. This solution may be applied by means of a suitable application roll it positioned below roller t and contacting with the cuter surface of the perforated belt as it passes around the roller. Application roll I5 is coating material to adhere to the surface of the coating roll. As the perforated belt and sheet of roofing pass over and contact with the roll, the roll forces the coating material through the perforations in the belt onto the surface of the sheet in a desired pattern or design. After the coating operation, scraper I4 removes any excess coating material from the endless belt and returns it to the coating pan I2.

When the endless belt and sheet of roofing reach roller 1, the belt is stripped from contact with the coated sheet and passes downwardly around the roller Vand thence back to roller 8.

The coating material which was forced through the perforated belt. remains on the surfaced sheet and forms a design, the exact configuration of which depends upon the perforations or open spaces in the belt. The coated sheet A passes around reversing roll I8 disposed directly over roller 1. f

After leaving reversing roll I8 and while the viscous coating material is still in a tacky condition, the coated sheet passes under a surfacing device or hopper 20 extending across the width of the sheet. Granular surfacing material, such as crushed stone, crushed slate, or other mineral or non-mineral grit, is fed into this hopper and is showered by means of the usual distributing roll 2l onto the coated base passing thereunder. The thus surfaced sheet then passes about reversing roll 24 which functions to partially embed the granules of surfacing material in the plastic coating material. Any granules which may fall on the previously surfaced portions of the sheet surrounding the coated areas do not adhere thereto. When the sheet leaves reversing roll 2l such granules and the excess granules on the coating layer fall back therefrom into feed hopperv 20.

It is obvious that the above described precedures make it possible to form roll roofing having a wide variety of designs or patterns. The exact design obtained depends entirely upon the type of perforated belt used.

Fig. 3 shows ,a type of perforated belt which may be used to form the brick-simulatingroofin'g shown in Figs. 2 and 4. This beltis composed of a series of parallel lmetal bands 28 connected together by perpendicular nretal bands 21 forming rows of brick shaped openings or perforations 29. 'I'he narrow horizontal and vertical depressed areas 3| and 32 on the sheet are formed by the bands 26 and 2I respectively of the perforated belt. 'I'he rectangular brick shaped areas 33 defined by the depressed areas correspond to the open portions or perforations in the belt. The thickness of the coating material applied to the sheet depends chiefly upon the thickness of the perforated belt.

A single coated product having an appearance similar to that shown in Fig. 3 may be prepared by using plain saturated felt or saturated roll roofing in place of the grit surfaced roofing as described above. When operating with plain saturated felt, it is often desirable to apply a seal-back coating of cementitious bituminous material to the underside of the sheet, either before or after applying the design coating, and then rendering the seal-back coating non-cementitious by the application of a suitable anti-stick composition such as mica flakes or powdered talc. Fig. is a fragmentary enlarged section through a finished sheet made in this wayand shows the design coating applied directly onto the saturated sheet.

The present invention makes it possible to apply coating material in highly viscous or plastic condition in well defined designs to roofing resulting in the production of roofing of ornamental .appearance and improved weathering properties. This feature is made possible by the fact thatthe coating material is forced through the interstices of the endless belt or stencil by the positive action of the coating roll against the surface of the belt. Relatively high melting point asphalt of a melting point from 85 C. to 120 C. and preferably about 105 C. may be applied by this method at a temperature ranging from 150 C. to 235 C. Bituminous mastics and filled asphalt coatings containing considerable quantities of inert material, such as asbestos, wood flour, sand, etc., may also be employed. For example, I may use a mastic containing 70% asphalt and 20% cork and 10% mica and having a specific gravity of about 0.8, or a mastic containing 45% asphalt and 40% sand and 10% mica andhaving a specific gravity of about 1.4.

Since certain changes in carrying out the aboveprocess and in the constructions set forth may be made without departing from the scope of this invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpretedY as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

I claim:

1. The process of forming ornamental design roofing comprising contacting a roofing sheet with a stencil of substantial thickness, forcing viscous coating material through the perforations in the stencil onto the sheet to form thereon raised portions of .substantial heightV and depressed portions of substantial depth thereby giving an embossed appearance to the sheet and retaining thestencil in contact with said sheet until said coating material has partially hardened.

v2. The process of applying molten asphalt of a melting point from 85 C. to 120 C. heated to a temperature considerably above its melting. point to a sheet of roong in a predetermined design. comprising contactingthe sheet with a perforated belt composed of material such that it will vwithstand .without decomposition or rupture the temperature to which the asphalt isheated, pressing the asphalt through the perforationsA in the belt onto the sheet and retaining the perforated belt in contact with said sheet until said asphalt has partially hardened.

3. The process of applying a design of coating material in a viscous condition to a roofing base, said coating material being 0f relatively high melting point and heated to a temperature substantially above its4 melting point, comprising placing a stencil in contact with the base, forcing viscous coating material up through the stencil onto the overlying base, retaining the stencil in contact with the base until the coating material has partially hardened, and removing the stencil from contact with the base.

4. The process of coating sheet rooting in predetermined design by forcingv viscous coating 'material of relatively high melting point and heated to a temperature above its melting point through a stencil of substantial thickness onto the sheet, which comprises contacting the stencil with the sheet, supplying viscous coating material to the stencil, applying pressure to the viscous coating material to force it through the stencil onto the sheet to form raised coated portions of substantial' height separated by depressed portions of substantial depth, retaining the stencil in contact with the base until the coating material has partially hardened, removing the stencil from the coated sheet, and partially embedding surfacing material in the raised coated portions of the sheet.

5. The process of applying a thick layer of high melting point Viscous coating material vin predetermined design to mineral surfaced sheet roofing by forcing the viscous coating material heated to a temperature above its melting point through a stencil onto the surfaced sheet, which comprises superimposing the sheet on the stencil,

supplying viscous coating material to thevunderside of the stencil, applying pressure to the viscous coating material to force it through the stencil onto the sheet. retaining the stencil in contact with the sheetuntil the viscous coating material has partially hardened, and removing the Acoated sheet from contact with the stencil.

6. Apparatus for applying a design of viscous high melting point waterproof bitumen heated to a temperature above its melting point to sheet roofing comprising a stencil constructed `of material capable of withstanding the temperatures and stresses imposed by the application of the heated bitumen, and a coating roll arranged to supply viscous coating material to the stencil and force it therethrough.

'7. Apparatus for applying a relatively thick layer Jof coating material inornamental threedimensional relief design to a sheet of roofing -material comprising in combination an endless stencil of substantial thickness, and a coating roll .disposed beneath the stencil and adapted to contact therewith, said coating roll forcing the coating material through the stencil to form an ornamental design composed of raised portions of substantial height and depressed portions of sub-4 stantial depth, the difference in thickness between said raised and depressed portions being substantially equal to the thickness of said stencil.

8. Apparatus for applying high melting point bituminous material in a predetermined design constituted of raised and depressed portions of substantial height and depth respectively to a sheet of roofing material, said'apparatus comprising spaced rollers, an endless perforated metal belt of substantial thickness adapted to move around said rollers, and a coating roll disposed between said rollers and abutting against the inner face of the perforated belt, a source of said bituminous material, said coating roll forcing the bituminous material from said source through the perforations in said belt to form a design constituted of raised and depressed portions, the diierence in thickness between said raised and depressed portions being substantially equal to the thickness of said belt.

9. Apparatus for applying heated, viscous, relatively heavy bituminous material to a sheet of roofing in a predetermined ornamental design, comprising spaced rollers, an endless metal stencil of substantial thickness adapted to pass around said rollers, means for contacting a sheet of roofing with the outside surface of said stencil, a coating roll disposed between said rollers in contact with the inside surface of said stencil, said coating roll being adapted to supply viscous bituminous material to the stencil and to force it therethrough onto the sheet of roofing to form a design composed of raised portions of substantial height and depressed portions of substantial depth, the difference in thicknessvbetween said raised and depressed portions being substantially equal to the thickness of said stencil.

10. The process of making roofing having a predetermined three-dimensional relief design which comprises forcing heatedviscous coating material onto a roof-lng base through a stencil of substantial thickness to form on said base raised portions of substantial height and depressed portions of substantial depth thereby giving an embossed appearance to said roof-lng and retaining the stencil in contact with said base until the coating material has partially hardened..

RICHARD A. HOLDSWORTH. 

